ADHD medication prescribed early in preschool-aged children despite guidelines

Key takeaways:

Asian, Black and Hispanic children with ADHD were less likely to be prescribed medication early vs. white children.

There is a need for more nonpharmacologic interventions in this population, researchers said.

A significant number of children were prescribed medication before the age of 7 and often within 30 days of an initial ADHD or related diagnosis despite treatment guidelines recommending therapeutic interventions, data show.

“This study has outlined for the first time the timing of medication prescriptions given to preschool-age children with ADHD or ADHD symptoms,” Yair Bannett, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford Medicine, told Healio about the research published in JAMA Network Open .

Data were derived from Bannett Y, et al. JAMA Netw O